Month: December 2017

What Does a Custom Home Builder Do?

Lakeshore Custom Homes is one of the Traverse City and Northern Michigan area’s most experienced custom home builders. But what exactly do we do?

Custom home builders assist and guide the home owner through the numerous details that go into the home building process. From helping you choose an appropriate building lot, answering questions and guiding you through the many options in materials, fixtures, finishes, and the vast number of other possibilities in creating your home. Our goal is help guide you to the right decisions and to build your dream home on time and according to your budget.

A custom home builder manages all aspects of building a new home. Much like a conductor of a symphony, the builder coordinates and guides the efforts of everyone involved in the construction process. This includes the builder’s full-time employees as well as any sub-contractors.

Lakeshore Custom Homes will normally be responsible for obtaining all permits, and working with building inspectors and any other governing authorities, and the designer or architect. We are also responsible for managing inspections and approvals and ultimately obtaining your occupancy permit. As materials are delivered to the work site, they are inspected before they are used.

A builder must be aware of how the Michigan Residential Building Code varies from county to county as well as by township. Lakeshore Custom Homes is experienced working with officials from Benzie, Leelanau, and Grand Traverse Counties to obtain all the necessary permits and inspections.

Another very important task is to manage the finances of the building project. This typically means preparing the contract with the home owner, providing lien waivers, tracking costs, submitting pay requests for completed work to your bank, and making any necessary adjustments for any owner requested change orders to the contract. We are also experienced working with most major lenders and can assist you with obtaining a construction loan.

Throughout the entire process, we emphasize communication and planning. This avoids costly delays and makes certain that we complete your home on time and on budget.